The Way She Moved
by betawho
Summary: He loved watching her move, she truly was a song in motion...


He was riveted, standing beside his console, just watching her.

River was putting in the coordinates for their destination. He was, supposedly, giving her a test to be sure she really understood how to pilot the Tardis. What he was really doing was just watching her move. Watching the way she swayed as she walked, the way she leaned and reached for controls, the way she was so graceful, and strong, and always always a little bit flirty.

Even when she wasn't paying attention.

And she had her shoes off again. He didn't know why it affected him so much when River walked around barefoot in his Tardis. Was it some old fashioned human attitude he'd picked up when he was banished there in the 60's? (Or 70's or 80's, or whenever that was.)

The notion of his wife in his home barefoot? Could he really have picked up human attitudes that bad? (He knew several Time Ladies who'd hit him over the head for that attitude, River not least among them.)

Or maybe it's because of how she'd hung her shoes up on his monitor the first time he'd seen her in his Tardis, making herself at home, flirting with him, showing him up with her driving, even as she was now learning to do.

She cocked one foot up, the arch beautifully curved, her toes painted pearly white. Just the way they clenched slightly, as she leaned over to reach a control, had him tingling in his belly.

He shook his head. Really! Pay attention! She could be piloting them through a neutron star and he'd never notice.

A quick glance showed she had them right on course.

She sidled around the console, brushing past him. All those warm curves brushing against his front. A passing curl twining around his nose.

He inhaled. She smelled marvelous. All earthy and lightning and summer storm.

His palms tingled.

She didn't seem to notice, she was pulling up the sensor array on the monitor, bringing up the planetary index so she could crosscheck current conditions with known normal conditions, all very by the book. He wondered if the Tardis expected him to still do that, especially considering it was the Tardis who'd really taught River to fly.

But, he inhaled and grabbed his braces. Technical knowledge was not enough, and you couldn't always rely on telepathic instructions. Sometimes you had to break the rules, and fly by the seat of your pants. And that was what he was having to teach River. Not just how to fly, but why each thing was needed, and in an emergency, what was actually important.

She caressed the console by the scanner array, patting it affectionately.

The Doctor felt a jolt of recognition. _He_ was the only one who did that!

River danced off lightly around the console, flicking this, adjusting that, feet as dainty as a fairy's, hair bobbing in the breeze of her own passage, a soft glow and a slight smile on her face. A look of communion and pleasure in the shared flight that only he had ever had before.

The Tardis groaned and landed with the softest of bumps. More a reminder of arrival than a "landing."

She set the dematerialization lever, pulled the hand brake, and swung the monitor around with a flourish. She checked the readout with a grin before turning to him, eyes alight.

"3467, the Malorean Archipeligo on the planet Vantar, on the Eve of St. Vilintine's Fire." She grinned triumphantly at him. "Sunset." She turned the monitor around where he could see it. A beautiful peach and orange sunset gleamed out over a wine-dark sea. Tropical palms fluttered in the breeze on the edges of the monitor.

"Exactly where requested." She beamed at him triumphantly.

His hearts beat a little extra hard. His wife, in his home, driving his Tardis, in her bare feet, her wild curly hair every bit as beautiful as the sunset.

His throat thickened. He felt his eyes watering a bit.

"Sweetie?" she cocked her head at him.

She must have seen something in his gaze, because her eyes softened. Her amazing blue-green eyes, like lightning in water.

He couldn't move. She was too beautiful. He couldn't believe he had ever been leery of her shoving herself into his life. He'd have had a huge River shaped hole in his existence, and never even have known.

"So, do I pass?" she asked, countering his somberness with a flirty coy look, a gleaming eye and a subtle roll of her shoulder that made everything male in him sit up and say, "Yes Ma'am!"

"Oh, I suppose so," he said, as ungratefully as he could through a tight, scratchy throat. "Although I still think your landings are too quiet. A Tardis should announce itself!" he said extravagantly, waving his arms wide like a grandiose trumpet blast.

She laughed. "Yes, and frighten all the local wildlife away," she said mockingly. She advanced on him with a sultry stride, every part of her body rolling toward him like an inevitable incoming tide full of sirens.

She caught him by the elbow and pulled him around, tucking her arm against his side. "The most romantic holiday of the Darvidian calendar, shall we go celebrate?" She gave him a sly, sideways look.

He matched her sashay down the stairs and to the door.

"Oop! Wait a minute!" He hopped on one foot and pulled his shoe and sock off, he switched feet and twirled in an unbalanced circle, one arm waving, as he yanked the other shoe and sock off.

He turned back to find her grinning at him with a soft, adoring look. He offered his elbow.

She tucked her hand into it. They opened the door, and stepped out into the sand.

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